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A Cause to Believe In

It's not every day I say "Yes!" to a random email requesting me to blog about something, especially when it's (yawn) more on the triathlon craze, since I know, I know, you are all so over hearing more about...

It's not every day I say "Yes!" to a random email requesting me to blog about something, especially when it's (yawn) more on the triathlon craze, since I know, I know, you are all so over hearing more about this sport I find both challenging and energizing. But this one has to see the light of day! It's an unimpeachable topic, since it has to do with a great athlete, 1995 Ironman World Champion Karen Smyers, and a great cause, kids' cancer. Karen herself is a cancer survivor, and she decided to do the Ironman World Championship in Kona tomorrow to raise money to help find a treatment and cure for pediatric brain tumors.

The spark: The 2nd Annual Dinner & Auction of IronMatt, a foundation involved in battling children's brain tumors, where Karen was honored for her commitment and character. She came back after being injured when a storm window fell on her leg, slashing her hamstring. She was again felled when she was hit by an 18-wheeler and left on the side of the road. But the clincher was when she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 1999. Though she had her thyroid surgically removed, she still went on to place second at the Ironman World Championships that year. Later she battled the cancer again, but in between, she just kept going. She raced, had a daughter (now 12) and son (now 6) with her husband, Michael King, and has given back to the sport and now to this worthy cause.

Her charity, Team IronMatt, was founded in honor of Matt Larson, who succumbed to a rare brain tumor. Karen got involved after one of her friends, Robert Duffy, a fellow triathlete, lost his 16-year-old son, Robert Jr., to brain cancer in 2009. This year's Ironman is on the one-year anniversary of Robert's passing.

Karen told me that having cancer right after becoming a mom was sobering, but the fact that it was her and not her daughter at least made her grateful her baby was OK. "I had perspective on it, since I couldn't imagine anything bad happening to my daughter," she told me. Training through her treatment and trying to make the 2000 Olympic team (for the first time triathlon was an Olympic event) kept her mind off what she was going through. When she didn't make the team, she wasn't crushed. On the contrary, she felt that the experience made her understand and put into perspective how her sport had helped her through. "I was fine and going to be healthy, my daughter was healthy, and if this had been in my early 20s I would have been crushed."

Her message throughout it all: "Attitude is what matters most. I've come in first and I've come in last, and as long as I give my all on any given day then I can't get upset about the outcome. As long as you have a good attitude you can put up with anything in life."